Woody Allen says Hollywood blacklisting “didn’t hurt me”
Woody Allen has claimed the sexual abuse allegations against him “didn’t hurt” his career due to his age when they resurfaced.
Allen was initially accused of sexually abusing his adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, in 1992. The director has always strenuously denied the allegations, which were the subject of a police investigation at the time and no charges were ever filed.
Despite the allegations surfacing in the early 1990s, Allen continued to be a prominent figure in Hollywood for decades until the MeToo movement occurred, and the claims resurfaced. In 2021, HBO released the four-part documentary series Allen v. Farrow, which explored the allegations.
When the allegations resurfaced, Allen’s four-movie deal with Prime Video was abandoned. His most recent film, Coup de chance, was released in 2023.
Now, during a new appearance on Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast, Allen said, “I was lucky because that could have been ruinous.”
He continued: “When everything happened, I was much older, I had done 45 movies already, I had made enough money so that I could retire for life comfortably. You know, I was thinking that I only want to make a few more movies, then I would like to start writing books and plays. It happened to me at a time when it was no problem.”
“As a practical thing, it was not hurtful to me,” he continued. “I was in my 80s, I’d made so many movies, it didn’t matter – it didn’t hurt me. If I was 30 or 40, it would have been career-ending, but I wasn’t,” he added.
Allen then reiterated this point, adding, “I will say that it came at a fortunate point in my life because I didn’t have to worry about money, and I didn’t have to worry about making films.”
He also said of actors who had appeared in his productions, such as Greta Gerwig and Timothée Chalamet, publicly denouncing their previous work with him, “These are people that have just made a mistake, I’m not criticising them. They think, or thought, they were doing the right thing.”
For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.
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